I'm Not Rappaport - Herb Gardner

 

I picked this up at a used book sale out in Carefree last spring and finally got around to reading it in a couple of nights.  Written 20 years ago I was pleasantly surprised how the theme centered around the lives of a pair of older men surviving in a world where they are largely irrelevant. It was different to read a play, to imagine the characters and see pictures of the actors that performed the play on Broadway.  An enjoyable read and a thoughtful commentary on aging.

Quotes:

page 47 - [Nat's lecture to Danforth on older people] "you collect old furniture, old cars, old pictures everything but old people. Bad souvenirs, they talk too much. Even quiet, they tell you too much; they look like the future and you don't want to know. Who are these people, these oldies, this strange race? They're not my type, put them with their own kind, a building, a town, put them someplace. You idiots, don't you know?  One day you too will join this weird tribe. Yes, Mr Chairman, you will get old; I hate to break the news. And if you're frightened now, you'll be terrified then. The problem is not that life is short it's but that it's very long; so you better have a policy....don't you understand? The old people, their the survivors, they know something, they haven't just stayed late to the party....you tell him that he is unnecessary, that he is a sin, that is a sin against life, that is abortion at the other end."

Published: 1986  Read: August 2026  Genre: Play 

Keep - Jenny Haysom

This is a quick read about decisions we'll all make - what do we do with all our stuff when we age?  The author gently reminds us we're all getting and getting rid of things our entire lives.  She tells a lighthearted tale of a "downsizer" Eleanor, who works for a realtor who is trying to sell an older woman's home.  Eleanor partners with Jacob, a 20 something young man, an artistic fellow, who helps stage the home.  The three of them help each other part with their things and the people in their lives.  A good debut novel with some food for thought.

Quotes:

[Harriett]  "Plenty of people, young and old, had difficulty parting with their homes and belongings.  But it seems to her that the elderly were particularly afflicted, in-part because they resisted change and couldn't bear losing or replacing that which was familiar and comforting.  It was as if their habits were set during a certain period, in youth and young adulthood, and as they aged it was more difficult to reset them.  Perhaps it was also true that a certain period of time defined the habits of a generation."

[Harriett] "If this last chapter of her life had a theme, it would be erasure, the whiting-out of previous chapters. ..Sometimes while talking, she'd suddenly fall quiet, as if someone had pressed a mute button mid-sentence or painted her tongue with Liquid Paper."

[Harriett] "Strange, as she'd always known unconsciousness to be black, but this was wrong because she was certain that if she closed her eyes for good, the end should be a blank page." 

[Jacob] "He'd gone from preserving things, to using them up, burning through them with gusto and joy, because for the first time in his life, he wasn't hoping for a better future; he was living it." 

Published: 2024  Read: January Genre: Fiction

Mutants - Armand Marie Leroi

 Sub-title: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body

I'm on the fence about this one.  I picked it up at a used bookstore that had a shelf of books on genetics, one of my favorite topics.  It's dated, however, the facts explained are still interesting. The book focuses on the impact of mutations in our genetic makeup that are responsible for the deformities seen in humans.  That focus makes the book what could be described as morbidly fascinating, using that appeal to actually provide scientific insights on what makes us different.

I felt the author was disingenuous and exploitative of individuals who have had to live with the results. I learned the names of several genetically caused conditions and their persistence since ancient history. I was intrigued by his suggestion that dying before 100 or 120, or just aging itself, could be a mutation in the species that survived because it only occurs after the individual can no longer (or doesn't usually) reproduce and thus hasn't been weeded out by natural selection. Not recommended.

Published:  2003  Read: March 2024  Genre: Science

The Aftermath - Philip Bump

Sub-title: The last days of the baby boom and the future of power in America

This was a fascinating read for me as I've been tracking the impact of the baby boom on our society ever since I studied Gerontology back in the 90s.  The author defines the generation and walks us through its impact on everything from baby carriages to cemetery plots.  My takeaway is that the 76 million babies born in the U.S. from 1946 through 1955 created a unique society that thinks it is the norm while it may actually never be repeated.

The book illustrates the facts discussed with charts, almost every couple of pages, reinforcing visually the information about this mass "pig in the python" moving through society and now seeing its ebb.  After examining the impacts to date, the author shares the predictions for the future on how the fading of this generation will be superseded by the millenials.  He draws no definitive conclusions, rather, speculating with input from demographers, historians and political analysts on what the future may look like.  An interesting read.

Published: 2023  Read:  March 2023  Genre: History

The Super Age - Bradley Schuman

Sub-title: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny 

I've long been an advocate for understanding the impact of our aging society.  This book documents the coming "age storm" and the potential impacts on all aspects of society.  It was repetitive in making its point which bogged down the reading.  I took awhile to finish it.  I've long been fascinated with the impact of aging and this read added a new perspective.

Quotes:

"p 24 - In 1875, American Express Company started offering private corporate pensions, the first of their kind.  The stated goal was to reward ...workers...as a charitable way to ease them out of the workforce.  Again, that tied in to the ability of a worker to do a job and was not necessarily tied to chronological age."

p.29 - "...most national social welfare systems are predicated on having a relatively large, you working population that pays taxes to support a relatively small, older retired population.  National economies, which are built on the false premise o perennial growth, could begin to contract."

p. 33 "The Greeks saw aging as a downward slope of decrepitude.  They even worshipped Geras, the god of old age, who was represented as a shriveled-up man holding a cane."

p. 88 ..women who serve their families as homemakers and caregivers, rather than in income-generating work, are doubly penalized..they do not attain financial freedom during their lifetimes...financial security in old age is tied to marital status and financial success of their husband.  The system was designed this way.  Husbands, as it turns out, are a terrible retirement policy."

p. 169 [describing Mitsubishi older worker program] "...is important because it illustrates the necessity of retaining and transferring institutional knowledge."

p. 171 [on generationally diverse staff] "Considering the whole life...a generationally diverse Super Age staff will have different needs."

p 196 "...everyone wants to be part of something.  All people want to belong and be seen as part of something."

p. 205 "Establishing a cooperative is one strategy an older entrepreneur can employ to ext from a business and make a profit while keeping important services in the community."

Published: 2022   Read: September 2022  Genre: Non-fiction

Night of Miracles - Elizabeth Berg

This was a sweet story that builds upon her previous book's characters.  I don't think I read the prequel.  This is the story of an aging widow, her neighbors and adopted daughter and granddaughter.  It's about kindness and caring and the passing of one generation who hands off the future to the next.  A nice read.

Published: 2018  Read: October 2019  Genre: Fiction

Ref: Black Elk Speaks - a book about being part of nature was referred to as one of the favorites of one of the characters in the story.  I added it to my TBR.

Please Look After Mom - Kyung-Sook Shin

A touching story told from four different individual perspectives of a Mother who is lost in a subway station and her family's efforts to find her.

We're first introduced to the oldest daughter and third child.  She's single, a successful author, and often frustrated by her mother's demands and worries.  Then there's the eldest son, doted on from birth, who realizes how much his mother's love has supported him.  There's the husband who is lost suddenly without the wife who did everything for him and the children to where they came to accept it as the norm.  Finally, there is the voice of the mother, comforting them in their loss.

For a young author, this story has an older, mature voice.  Her characters are not terrible people; they've just never before not had their mother's presence as a given in their lives.  They each go through grieving her absence - anger at each other, guilt, sadness, each coming to realize how much they really didn't know about Mom.  It describes the self-sacrificing that can be exhibited by mothers, in particularly Korean mothers.

The martyrdom of Mom gets a bit unreal and the ending doesn't have the longed for resolution, but it works.  I enjoyed the story and was pulled through the book to the end. Good read.

Published: 2009  Read: July 2016  Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 978-0-307-59391-7

Someone Not Really Her Mother - Harriet Scott Chessman

This was a quick read, a different style for telling of the fading memory of a mother and the reaction of her daughter and granddaughters.

Hannah is losing her present memory but those of her past in WWII and losing her family become sharper and confused with today. It's hard on her only child, Miranda, and challenging for her two granddaughters just beginning their adult lives.

I think the book could have had much more substance with deeper stories about the daughter and her husband and her relationships with her daughters.  The character development was sketchy and left the reader to fill in the blanks.

Published:  2004  Read: June 2016  Genre: Fiction

Our Souls at Night - Kent Haruf

This is a lovely story, the last book from the author before he died.  The story of two widowed friends, a man and woman, getting together for company.  It's sweet and touching and oh so believable.  What will old age be like?  Read this and explore the possibilities.

Published:  2015  Read: September 2015  Genre: Fiction